None.
This invention relates to an in-flight refueling guide for accurate delivery of fuel from one in-flight craft to another.
The task of aerial refueling involves a fuel tanker aircraft and a receiver aircraft flying in close formation under very controlled flight conditions. The task of the refueling boom operator in the tanker is to take a long tubular refueling boom and manipulate it between the aerodynamic slipstreams of both aircraft so that it contacts the refueling receptacle on the receiving aircraft. This boom can move in three dimensions to affect a contact; movement is controlled by the tanker boom-operator. Once in position, the boom nozzle is mechanically linked to the receiver aircraft and the fuel can be transferred. This task is performed by the tanker aircraft boom-operator using controls in the tanker aircraft that allow the operator to fly the fueling boom into position. Manipulating the movement of the boom requires manual skill. It also requires considerable guidance as to the location of the refueling receptacle to create a visual refueling link between the two aircraft. To enhance this visual image for the boom operator, various lead-in line patterns have been used. Earlier lead-in line patterns did not provide very accurate guidance to the boom operator; the consequence was inadvertent boom contacts with aircraft structures other than the refueling port area. By not visually drawing the boom operators eyes toward the target, previous designs allowed connection and acquisition errors to occur. These errors in boom movement would often lead to structural damage to the receiver aircraft.
Examples of prior art lead-in line patterns are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 hereof, which do not provide adequate directional, distance or rate of closure guidance of the fuel boom and nozzle to the fuel receptacle or port on the fuel-receiving aircraft.
Accordingly, there is need and market for a refueling guide that gives such adequate guidance and otherwise overcomes the above prior art shortcomings.
There has now discovered in-flight refueling system which provides enhanced guidance of a refueling boom in direction and relative motion, as it closes on the fuel port of the fuel receiving aircraft for greatly enhanced in-flight refueling.
Broadly the invention provides an enhanced in-flight refueling system for an aircraft having a slipway leading to a fuel inlet port in a recess in the aircraft, the improvement comprising, a guideway having,
a) a pair of lead-in lines on the surface of the aircraft which converge toward the slipway and port and
b) b) a plurality of marks on the surface spaced longitudinally between the lines a desired distance apart,
so that the lines and marks aid in guiding a fuel boom and nozzle from a refueling aircraft to the slipway and port.
The refueling guide of the invention can have recess doors which open and close over the recess on hinges and when open, reveal padding over the hinges to protect them from contact with said nozzle.
Definitions:
By xe2x80x9cslipwayxe2x80x9d as used herein, is meant a sloping surface descending from the surface into a recess in an aircraft and leading to a fuel inlet port therefor.